his army in motion, taking with him the beautiful queen and
her retinue of plumed warriors. All this country was then called
Florida. The army advanced rapidly up the eastern bank of the Savannah
river, where they forded the stream, and, again entering the present
State of Georgia, traversed nearly its whole breadth until they
reached the head waters of the Coosa river. Here, at the confluence of
the Oostanaula and Etowa rivers, they found a large Indian town called
Chiaha, near the present site of Rome.

While on the march across the State of Georgia, the queen, probably
dreading to be carried captive beyond her own domain, and aided by an
understanding with her retinue, leaped from the palanquin and
disappeared in a dense forest through which they were passing. De Soto
never saw her or heard from her again. Undoubtedly a band of her
warriors were in rendezvous there to receive her.

For five days the adventurers pressed along as rapidly as possible,
over a hilly country about sixty miles in breadth. Though well
watered, and abounding in beautiful valleys, luxuriant with mulberry
groves and rich prairies, it seemed to be quite uninhabited. Having
crossed this mountainous region, they reached a populous district
called Guachule. The chief had received an intimation of the approach
of the Spaniards, and that they came as messengers of peace and not of
war. When De Soto and his band, led by native guides whom they had
picked up by the way, had arrived within two miles of the village of
the chief, they discovered him approaching them with a retinue of five
hundred plumed warriors, adorned with glittering robes and weapons in
the highest style of semi-barbaric display. The chief was
unembarrassed, dignified, and courtly in his address. He received De
Soto with truly fraternal kindness, escorted him to his village, which
consisted of three hundred spacious houses, in a beautiful valley of
running streams at the base of adjacent hills.

The dwelling of the chief was upon a spacious artificial mound, the
summit of which was sufficiently broad for the large edifice, leaving
a terrace all around it about twelve feet in breadth. Here De Soto
remained four days, enjoying the hospitality of the friendly Cacique.

Resuming their journey, the army marched down the banks of a large
stream, supposed to be the Etowa, which empties into the Coosa. For
five days they continued their march through an uninteresting country,
almost desti